


Good cold coffee

by Aerle



Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, M/M, Teaching, op_bingo2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-03
Updated: 2021-02-03
Packaged: 2021-03-15 01:15:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29180874
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aerle/pseuds/Aerle
Summary: Marco chuckled. “I see, thank you.” When Ace smiled, he added, “No, really, thank you. I needed this. Not just the food… Being dragged away from work. I just have so much stuff to do with Principal Newgate out of the running.”
Relationships: Fushichou Marco | Phoenix Marco/Portgas D. Ace
Comments: 5
Kudos: 59
Collections: One Piece Bingo 2020/2021





	Good cold coffee

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the One Piece Bingo 2020/2021.

“Man, I thought those parents would never leave.” Marco ran a hand through his hair as he left the classroom.

“Aren’t parent-teacher nights fun?” Thatch said grinning.

Marco groaned as he grabbed his bag. “Why do parents always think their child can do no wrong? Thanks for waiting, by the way.”

“Hey, I just finished myself. I made a mother cry.” Thatch actually sounded proud of himself. “Thirteen year olds, man.”

“Tell me about it. Do you think the cleaning lady is still here? I don’t have the keys of the front door with me.”

“Probably, I think she works pretty late hour-” Thatch stopped when Marco did and slapped him in the chest.

“That’s no cleaning lady.”

They were looking at someone who certainly wasn’t the cleaning lady Marco had seen several times when he left late. Instead, they were looking at a young man, his back turned to them as he swayed his hips on the rhythm of the music coming from his oversized headphones while he mopped the floor.

As Marco and Thatch looked on, Marco perhaps a little too focused on the man’s rear, the cleaning man slowly turned around, still dancing.

The handle of the mop hit the floor.

“I thought the school was empty,” the man said sheepishly as he removed his headphones.

“Whiney parents,” Thatch said, shrugging. “Are you new?”

“Yeah, today’s the first day,” the man said as he picked up his mop. “Apparently, the lady who worked here before me won the lottery and quit right away. I’m Ace.”

“I’m Thatch and that’s Marco.”

“Are you teachers here?”

“Yeah. Thirteen year olds, am I right?” Marco said.

Ace raised his eyebrow. “Sure?”

“Long night,” Marco muttered.

“Yeah, we should leave you to it. G’night, Ace.” Placing a hand on Marco’s shoulder, Thatch led him outside.

* * *

After that initial – rather awkward – meeting, Ace was pulled into the teacher’s lounge to have coffee with the teachers whenever he was there during teaching hours. Marco was there the least of all teachers, because he was apparently always working, but Ace had become good friends with Thatch.

Most teachers left at six, half past six tops if it was a long day, but more than once, Ace caught Marco leaving way later than everyone else. It wasn’t the others weren’t devoted teachers, but Marco, as vice principal, had received a lot more responsibilities now that Principal Newgate was home sick.

One such night, Ace was cleaning the floors when he passed Marco’s office. The door was ajar, and Ace could see Marco sitting at his desk, grading papers by the looks of it. He grabbed the cup standing next to him, took a sip, and made a face when he found that the coffee was cold, no doubt. He then put down the cup, only to repeat the same thing several minutes later.

Ace shook his head, deciding not to bother him. Turning up the volume of his music, he started mopping again.

Two hours later, he’d finished the entire school. The whole school, except for one office. Much to his dismay, Marco was still sitting in his office, working. When Ace knocked, he looked up.

“Hey Ace, could you come back later? I’m almost done.”

“Are you?” Ace asked, leaning on his cleaning cart. “Are you _really_?”

“I mean, I only have to check a few more tests.” Marco placed his hand on a stack that could hardly be described as ‘a few’. “And check my email. And read the proposal for the new building. And…”

“…More things you can do in the morning,” Ace finished his sentence.

“Can’t you clean the rest of the school first?”

“I already did.”

Marco sighed. “Fine, you can do my office too. Just… please be quick.”

“Please, they don’t call me ‘fast Ace’ for nothing,” Ace said, pulling his cart inside.

Marco raised an eyebrow. “Who calls you that?”

Ace smirked mysteriously and shrugged. He left the office and came back in pulling the vacuum cleaner.

Marco looked up annoyed when he turned it in. Ace just shrugged innocently as he started to vacuum the floor. Marco bore it for a few minutes, before dropping his pen on his papers. “Could you please skip the vacuuming today?”

“Fine.” Ace turned off the device, grabbing a cleaning cloth and dropping it loudly in the bucket of water on his cart. Marco narrowed his eyes, and Ace shrugged again. Whistling, he squeezed the water from it, only to drop it into the water again. “Whoops.” He repeated the process, clearly to Marco’s annoyance.

Ace had found that annoying Marco was both easy and very entertaining.

With the damp cloth, he started to clean Marco’s desk, moving his possessions in the process, which Marco for some reason didn’t like very much.

“Could you please…” Frustrated, Marco took a draught of his very cold coffee, only to make a face again.

“You’d think after so long, it would get warm again, wouldn’t you?” Ace said with a smirk.

Marco looked at him questioningly, and Ace shrugged. “You did the same thing two hours ago, and I highly doubt you got up to get new coffee somehow.”

Marco opened his mouth to protest, but didn’t seem able to think of a retort. Instead, his stomach did it for him. A loud growl sounded.

“Let me guess, you forgot to eat.”

“I didn’t,” Marco snapped. “I ate a granola bar.”

“At what time?”

“I don’t know, five?”

“It’s ten now.”

Marco stared at him for a second, disbelieving. “It’s ten?” He then recovered. “Well, I should have another bar somewhere.” He made to reach into one of his desk drawers, but Ace slapped his hand with a wet cloth.

“You can’t live on granola bars. I’m gonna take you to get some real food.”

“I have work to do,” Marco protested.

“Believe someone who mops the same hallway every day, the work will be here tomorrow. Come on.” Dragging Marco with him along with his cleaning cart, Ace walked through the hallway and put away his cleaning supplies, while ignoring Marco’s protests. He then dragged Marco out of the school, only halting to lock up the building.

They didn’t go far, the place Ace wanted to go was close to the school. The snack bar was filled with a few people, but not as busy as Ace had sometimes seen it.

Without saying anything, Ace planted Marco on a chair and walked over to the counter. Sabo looked up when he approached.

“I was wondering what kept you.”

“Work.”

“Friend of yours?” Sabo nodded in Marco’s direction. Marco had placed his head on his hand, his eyes closed as his head lolled to the side. He woke up with a snort, looking around embarrassedly to see if anyone noticed that he dozed off.

Ace grinned and turned away.

“Sorta. Co-worker. Boss, technically.”

“And you’re, what? Trying to impress him with my cooking skills?” Sabo asked sarcastically as he dunked a basket of fries in the hot oil.

Ace shrugged. “The guy hasn’t eaten since five and that was only a granola bar. He needs something substantial.” He placed his order and then walked to the table Marco was sitting at while Sabo went to prepare it.

“You come here often?” Marco asked.

“Most nights after work. Sabo’s a friend, so I get a discount,” Ace said with a grin.

Marco smirked. “So a cheap date?”

“I don’t generally take my dates here, unless I want Sabo to judge them.” Then the implication of Marco’s words hit him and he hastily continued, “But this isn’t a date, is it?”

“I suppose not.” Marco scratched behind his ear. “I mean, that would be sort of inappropriate, wouldn’t it? Me being your boss and all.”

“Yeah, exactly.” After a moment of reflection, Ace decided he wanted to know after all. “Would you… want it to be a date?”

“I…” Marco opened and closed his mouth. “Please forget anything I said that could get me in trouble with the ethics committee in the best case scenario and sued in the worst.”

They were both silent when Sabo placed a tray on the table. He looked from Ace to Marco with a raised eyebrow, but didn’t comment. “Bon appétit.”

The fact that it wasn’t a date meant that Ace didn’t have to hold back with his eating style. It also helped that Marco attacked the food like a wolf that hadn’t eaten in a week. They both stuffed their faces until all the food was gone.

Then Marco reached for the milkshake standing before him. Taking a sip, he looked surprised at Ace.

He grinned. “See, there is a way to have good cold coffee.”

Marco chuckled. “I see, thank you.” When Ace smiled, he added, “No, really, thank you. I needed this. Not just the food… Being dragged away from work. I just have so much stuff to do with Principal Newgate out of the running.”

“Have you ever considered you don’t have to do it all?” Ace asked, sipping his milkshake – with chocolate flavour, he wasn’t a coffee fan.

“I,” Marco started. “Someone has to fill in for Mr Newgate.”

“I know. And you’re doing a great job. You’re a great principal. I meant, maybe you should ease up on teaching classes.”

Marco stared at him for a while, sipping from his straw. “I love teaching, though. And if Principal Newgate comes back…”

“Do you really think he will, though?” When Marco gave him a sharp look, Ace raised his hands in defence. “Mr Newgate isn’t the youngest anymore, and there is some gossip going around about him wanting to retire. He’s looking if you’re a suitable replacement, Marco.”

“How would you know…”

“Thatch and the others sometimes let me sit in on their classes. I’m working as a cleaner to pay for my teacher’s degree.”

“Really? That’s great.”

“Can I ask,” Ace asked, “why did you decide to become a teacher?”

Marco chuckled. “Those who can’t, teach, right?”

“I’m pretty sure you at least have to be able to do _some_ mathematics to become a maths teacher,” Ace countered.

Marco chuckled again. “I suppose that’s true. But you don’t do it for the appreciation. And you certainly don’t do it for the pay.”

“Should I reconsider?” Ace asked, laughing.

Marco smiled a little wistfully. “But I suppose I like being a – hopefully good – influence on the kids’ life. Don’t get me wrong, they’re brats, mostly, and you can only start talking to them like humans once they’re fifteen or sixteen. And I’m not as arrogant or naïve to think that most of them will have to do anything with math once they finish school. Sure, some of them will become math teachers or mathematicians themselves, but the rest of them? They’ll forget mental calculation exist and just pull out their phone. Not to mention sinus and cosine. But honestly, I don’t think that’s even the point. I think it’s learning about problem solving, that your answer doesn’t have to be correct if your method is. Things like that.”

“That’s pretty amazing,” Ace said smiling.

“And maybe a little about cosine. You gotta love a good cosine equation.”

Ace laughed. “I can’t say I do.”

“What will your specialisation be?” Marco asked.

“Linguistics.”

Marco snorted, amused. “An alpha, eh?”

Ace shrugged with a grin, before turning serious again. “You know, teaching maths is one way to be a good influence on those teens. But don’t you think you can do a lot more as a principal?” When Marco’s eyebrows furrowed, Ace shrugged again. “I’m just saying, you can’t keep doing both. Not if you want to have a life outside of work. And do fun stuff. Like dating.”

“Did you… have anyone specific in mind?” Marco asked with half-lidded eyes. He probably just was tired, but those bedroom eyes looked nice on him.

Ace’s lips curled into a smile. “I won’t tell the ethics committee if you won’t.”


End file.
